The launch of a new product or service has to be well planned from A – Z. Whether public or internal, the event requires significant investment. When you add an international element, you will encounter a new set of challenges. Italian Special Occasions DMC wants to ensure a flawless planning experience for you and an enriching experience for your stakeholders.
We take a personalised approach to event planning and apply it to your product or service launched. By highlighting it through the local history and heritage, we can help you make your event even more memorable and impactful.
To demonstrate our approach, we want to use a case study of a past product launch. We launched a sun cream in Sicily and wanted to make this event stand out from the traditional product launch. To achieve this goal, we identified five keywords to create an event storyline. These included Glamour, Innovation, Magic, Adventure and Sustainability.
The company invited 25 participants to participate in an exclusive three day trip and product launch. Besides relaxing and sunbathing we organised different activities for them linked to product’s story.
Why Sicily?
We always advise to plan events in Italy off the beaten path and off season. Different seasons are ideal for visiting different regions and we can support you finding the right combination. During the low season, highly popular tourist destinations are calmer. This allows for larger room and venue capacity and thus you can save costs. Additionally, we are always happy to support local communities and extend their business cycle.
We chose Sicily for May, just before the beginning of a busy summer season. No other better destination to try the product and get this Hollywood suntan.
Specifically, we chose the area of East Sicily. The group stayed in an exclusive hotel in Taormina. Hotel’s location was close to the amazing and breath-taking Greek theatre, a location to WOW anyone who gets through the door. The activities later on also took place on the sea of Taormina, around the famous Mount Etna.
For evening events we chose two thematic locations. Sustainability was aligned with the bio sunscreen and Glamour represented its high quality.
Now let’s look into how we brought the story to life and incorporated it into the event.
Adventure
We combined adventure and innovation to be experienced on the same day and took the group to the Mount Etna by Jeep. Jeep is a brand associated with adventure and excitement and therefore was a good fit for the occasion. They went through local villages, before starting the path on the lava at height of 1300 MT, enjoying the view of the extinguished craters on the way. Afterwards, participants had a picnic to taste the typical Sicilian Liquor of Malvasia combined with the typical almond Sicilian biscuits.
Innovation
According to our sustainable approach we organise unique activities that are not dictated by mass tourism. So we had more surprises for the day! Around sunset we took the group to a beautiful vineyard that represents the innovation in our story. Very traditional business, it has an innovate edge, both in the vineyard, and the cellar we wanted the delegates to experience.
The volcanic terrain makes the soil very unique for the wine production. Its characteristic is the minerals provided by the volcanic territory and the dry soil and two sorts of grapes are unique to the region, the Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio. Furthermore, all interventions are handmade. This is a tradition the vineyard wants to preserve.
To conclude the group had a dinner and expereinced their testing menu, combined of typical regional food and wine from the vineyard.
Glamour
On the second day we launched the sunscreen. Instead of doing the traditional product launch in the evening, we decided to do it during the day. This to give the guests try and experience the product and the activities associated with it.
We took the group to Catamarani, where they could navigate in beautiful part of the coast looking at the famous Bella Island, Capo Taormina, and from the sea admire the presence of Mount Etna.
For the activities, such as kayaking, we made sure all used the sunscreen to protect them from the Sicilian sun. An expert on-site advised on the right protection for the skin type and no one got sunburned. We concluded a successful product launch!
Product launch was reinforced by glamourous gala dinner and different performances, including Opera and Modern Ballet. Additionally, delicious and local food and wine were served and were accompanied by a Sicilian band playing Mandolino. The evening finished with a lovely dancing party.
Sustainability
We are committed to practice sustainable event management. Sustainable tourism is important for protecting resources and the environment, as well as for increasing the value of local culture and traditions. Our suppliers also do their part in helping the natural, cultural and economic environment of the territory.
The glamourous Gala Dinner had also a sustainability element. Besides applying sustainability into our event management process, we also wanted to showcase how sustainability ties with the product.
For this purpose, we chose a green venue, a wonderful historical Greenhouse with a wonderful view on the sea. We decorated and designed the venue so each corner represents the explanation of the ingredients of the sunscreen and a bit of Sicilian history.
Magic
On the last day we gave delegates free time. For interested, we organised a visit to a Sicilian Factory specialising in the production of Etna lava stone jewellery. The worldwide famous factory exports its collections globally and has established itself as an ambassador of the “Made in Italy” brand. The transformation of the lava stone into jewellery represented the word Magic in our storyline.
The product launch was a great success. We communicated the key message through compelling storytelling and incorporated local experience. In our unique way, including seasonality and experiencing Italy off the beaten path we were able to bring brand’s story to life.
